


Hands Full of Ash

by NightValeian



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Clint Barton Feels, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, F/M, In case you were wondering where Hawkeye was, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), based off the ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 08:14:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14468592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightValeian/pseuds/NightValeian
Summary: !!!   IW Spoilers !!!________________________________________________________________While the team fights Thanos, Clint Barton is on his farm with his family, unaware of the events occurring.It doesn't take long for the aftermath of the battle to reach home.





	Hands Full of Ash

It was a beautiful day on the farm; the sun was shining, the skies were clear and today was the day Clint was finishing some last minute remodeling in the kitchen.

Retirement, while only acquired through a deal after the Accords, was surprisingly relaxing the second time around. He was in touch with Natasha, as if they could ever not be, but the only work he had to focus on was being a husband and father.

Clint was fitting the last bit of new tile into an empty slot on the floor when he heard footsteps in the hallway, slow, unsteady, and he looked up to see his oldest son standing in the doorway.

“Cooper. Hey, buddy, what’s up?”

Cooper looked pale, his gaze unfocused. He was staring at Clint, but Clint didn’t think he was seeing him as much as just staring at the source of his voice. He abandoned the tile on the floor, stood, and made his way over to his son, reaching up to brush the mess of bangs from his clammy forehead.

“Dad…I don’t feel good.”

Clint opened his mouth to reply, but it was cut short as he watched Cooper start disintegrating before his eyes. What were once his arms were coming apart, turning to ash and floating lazily to the floor. To Clint’s horror, it took only a moment before the head under his hand completely turned to ash as well and what was once his son collapsed into a dusty pile on the floor in front of him.

A scream echoed from upstairs before he could even react, Laura’s scream, and Clint jumped, dragged from his jumble of panicked thoughts. He wasted no more time in jumping over the pile of ash on the floor and ran down the hall towards the stairs.

“Laura?”

“Clint!”

He reached the top of stairs in record time, following the sounds of his wife’s sobs and Nathaniel’s wailing to their bedroom where Laura stood in front of a pile of ash, her hands outstretched as if she had been trying to catch something that had fallen right through her hold.

Laura looked at him, cheeks wet with tears. If Cooper had been downstairs and Nathaniel was in his crib, then it could only be one another person.

“Clint…She just…”

Lila.

Clint stared at the pile of ash, feeling nothing but numb. His little girl, gone, just like her brother, a pile of ash in a matter of seconds.

What the hell was happening?

“Cooper too.” He told her, voice shaking as he walked to Nathaniel’s crib, leaning over the side to soothe their youngest while Laura stood frozen, staring down at the ashes on the floor. “Shh, buddy, it’s alright. Everything is alright.”

But everything wasn’t alright.

His entire life as a shield agent, all the training he’d endured, told him to remain calm despite how much he wanted to scream out his grief. Two of his children, gone, taken by some unknown force that wiped them from the Earth. It had to be some kind of magic, maybe some kind of alien technology? Would it happen to him too? To the rest of them?

“Clint?”

Laura’s voice was far off, the same tone that Cooper had spoken to him in just before he had disappeared.

Clint turned from the crib towards her, heart sinking in his chest.

Laura turned to him, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks while fresh ash spilled from where her hands had once been.

No. Please, no.

_“Clint—"_

Laura stumbled forward, and Clint did the same in order to catch her, holding her as tightly as he could against himself as if it would stop her from fading away into nothing.

It didn’t.

“Laura, it’s going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay, baby, I promise.”

“Clint…"

"I love you so much. It's going to be okay."

His voice was shaking; he couldn't stop talking. He never imagined he would lose them all, not like this. 

"Take care of Nathaniel.”

Her words were sluggish, borderline slurred, but she tucked her face against his shoulder, appreciating what were possibly their last moments together.

Her shoulders shook; Clint knew she was afraid.

“I will. I promise I will. I’ll find a way to fix this. I’ll bring you back. I’ll bring you all back.”

Laura let out a shaky breath, it may have been a laugh, it may have been out of pain, but he felt a soft press of her lips against his shoulder before the body against him gave completely and Clint was left with nothing but arms of ash.

Clint stared down at his empty arms in a stunned silence, hands closing slowly around the ash in his palms that had once been the woman he loved.

How had this happened? How? Was it a trick?

Was his family gone forever?

Over the sounds of Nathaniel’s wails, he could faintly hear his phone ringing from the kitchen downstairs. Probably Natasha, if she hadn’t already turned to ash too, calling to check in on him, but he was too numb to do anything but slowly lower his arms.

He turned stiffly towards the crib and bent down to lift his youngest, now his only, child into his arms.

Clint rocked Nathaniel slowly, hushing him softly and trying to offer him as much comfort as he could.

When Cooper was born, Clint promised Laura that his superhero life wouldn’t interfere with their child’s, that he would protect him no matter what. He did the same with Lila, the same with Nathaniel and the same when he and Laura recited their wedding vows.

Three times, he had already broken his promise. He would not break it again.

“Daddy’s here, buddy. I’m here. I’m going to figure this out.”

In his ash covered arms, Nathaniel screamed against his shoulder, terrified.

Clint only wished he could scream with him.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm baaaack. 
> 
> I saw Infinity War and I'm sad.
> 
> Debating turning this into a multi-part thing with Clint and Wanda too. Lemme know what you think?


End file.
